Pushout

The “powerful” (Michelle Alexander) exploration—featured by The Atlantic, Essence, the Washington Post, New York magazine, NPR, and others—of the harsh and harmful experiences confronting Black girls in schools

In a work that Lisa Delpit calls “imperative reading,” Monique W. Morris (Black Stats, Too Beautiful for Words) chronicles the experiences of Black girls across the country whose intricate lives are misunderstood, highly judged—by teachers, administrators, and the justice system—and degraded by the very institutions charged with helping them flourish. Called “compelling” and “thought-provoking” by Kirkus Reviews, Pushout exposes a world of confined potential and supports the rising movement to challenge the policies, practices, and cultural illiteracy that push countless students out of school and into unhealthy, unstable, and often unsafe futures.

Called a book “for everyone who cares about children” by the Washington Post, Morris’s illumination of these critical issues is “timely and important” (Booklist) at a moment when Black girls are the fastest growing population in the juvenile justice system. Praised by voices as wide-ranging as Gloria Steinem and Roland Martin, and highlighted for the audiences of Elle and Jet right alongside those of EdWeek and the Leonard Lopate Show, Pushout is a book that “will stay with you long after you turn the final page” (Bookish).

Praise

“Despite increased attention to the mass and over-incarceration of Black men, the plight of criminalized Black women and girls is overlooked, underreported, and underanalyzed. Finally, a compelling narrative that tells us the heartrending story of how schools are culpable in re-victimizing some of our most vulnerable citizens. This is a must-read for educators, juvenile justice officials, parents, and the entire community.”

—Gloria Ladson-Billings, Kellner Family Distinguished Chair in Urban Education, University of Wisconsin–Madison

“Morris’s sharp analysis and the compassionate way she contextualizes these stories will surely compel readers to take action against the injustices that Black girls experience in schools and beyond.”

—Beth E. Richie, author of Arrested Justice

“If you ever doubted that Supremacy Crimes—those devoted to maintaining hierarchy—are rooted in both sex and race, read Pushout. Monique Morris tells us exactly how schools are crushing the spirit and talent that this country needs.”

—Gloria Steinem

“This book is imperative reading, not only for educators and those in the justice system but—perhaps especially—for anyone who loves and sleeps down the hall from a young, developing African American woman.”

—Lisa Delpit, author of “Multiplication Is for White People” and Other People’s Children

“At a moment when footage of institutional assaults on young Black men emerges with a horrifying regularity comes a timely and indispensable look at the often invisible oppression of girls of color. Pushout blazes with the voices of young women fighting for their dignity, safety, and the fundamental right to a future.”

—Nell Bernstein, author of Burning Down the House and All Alone in the World

“A powerful indictment of the cultural beliefs, policies, and practices that criminalize and dehumanize Black girls in America, coupled with thoughtful analysis and critique of the justice work that must be done at the intersection of race and gender.”

—Michelle Alexander, author of The New Jim Crow

“A dynamic call to action. Black girls’ exposure to being pushed out of school and set on paths to incarceration, physical and economic insecurity, and social marginality is so movingly set forth by Morris that it can no longer be ignored. Pushout is essential reading for all who believe that Black lives matter.”

—Kimberlé Crenshaw, co-editor of Critical Race Theory and co-author of the reports “Say Her Name” and “Black Girls Matter”